Ocean of Fire
by Rivendell101
Summary: We call them Cait Sith, after the old Enca myth, a black cat that stole the souls of the dead. What we have is much worse. Demon cats taller than men, predators that rip humans to pieces. We race them every August, across the desert, alone or in teams of two, battling our own opponents who want nothing more than to kill us. This year, Natsu and I will race. And we will win. NaLu AU
1. Prologue: Luck Be With You

**Summary: We call them Cait Sith, after the old Enca myth, a black cat that stole the souls of the dead. What we have is much worse… demon cats taller than men, vicious predators that rip humans to pieces. We race them every August, under the protection of the sign of Leo, across the desert, alone or in teams of two, battling sand storms, dehydration, and our own opponents who want nothing more than to kill us. This year, Natsu and I will race. And we will win.**

**AN: This will be in both Lucy and Natsu's POVs. The idea for this came from a combination of reading **_**The Scorpio Races**_** by Maggie Stiefvater, looking up NaLu pictures on Tumbler, and watching **_**Hidalgo**_**. The picture that caught my attention was one of Natsu and Lucy riding a lion, yes a lion, I can't remember if this was actually something Hiro drew or if it's fan art.**

**Ocean of Fire**

**Prologue: Luck Be With You**

The truck we were in was kicking up sand and dust everywhere and I was slammed into the trucks door as we hit a dune. Why did Lucy's father have to be such a crazy driver? I shook the thought from my head and smiled cheerfully, none of that mattered right now. All I needed to worry about was the fact that it was still another hours worth of driving until we made it to the country of Desierto, which was, unfortunately, roughly twelve thousand miles away from our home country of Fiore. To get to Desierto we had to drive through the countries of Bosco, Stella, and Joya. Luckily for Lucy, her father, and me we lived in the northern part of Fiore instead of the south, taking nearly three days off of the drive.

I looked down at the small blonde sitting between me and her father. Lucy caught my gaze and sent me a bright smile in return. As uncomfortable as it was for three people to be squished into the front seat of an old truck, the end result would be worth it. Lucy, her father, and I were going to watch the Cait Sith races that were held every August, just like we did every year. Well, Lucy and I were going to watch. Lucy's father, Jude, was going to be _in_ the race, along with his Lion Cait Sith named Bás, a particularly vicious creature that had no qualms with attacking his rider.

The Cait Sith were an old legend from the country of Enca. They were supposed to be black cats that stole the souls of those who had died before they could be claimed by the Gods. Our Cait Sith were… different. The largest of them could grow to be six feet tall and they all had a killer instinct and wouldn't hesitate to attack anyone within a ten foot radius. And what did the people of Earthland decide to do with these demon cats? Race them of course. The race themselves started August first and the racers had until the twenty-second of the same month to finish the four thousand mile course. The race would start at the boarder of Joya and would cross the desert until it hit the coast of Desierto near its boarder with Minstrel.

"Hey, Dad?" both Lucy's father and I turned to look at the blonde girl sitting sandwiched between us. I had known Lucy for several years; her father had taken me in after my dad was killed in one of the races when I was ten. It was fairly obvious that I wasn't actually related to Lucy and her father. Both were blond with bright eyes, Lucy's were brown and her father's were just a few shades darker, whereas I had shockingly pink hair and dark, almost black, eyes.

I let my eyes rake over the blonde sitting next to me. Lucy was by far the most important person in my life. I really couldn't picture my future without her in it, things just wouldn't be right. To put things simply I was, probably, in love with her. She was smart, funny, beautiful, compassionate, and had an iron will. She was loyal and would fight against all odds to keep the people she cares about safe.

I was drawn back to reality by the sound of Jude's voice, a blush spreading over my face as I realized I had been staring, rather shamelessly, at Lucy. "What's wrong, Lucy?"

She shook her head, her blonde ponytail swinging back and forth slightly, bangs brushing across her face softly. "Nothing's wrong, just…" she trailed off, eyes narrowing in thought, she was probably trying to figure out how she should word her question. "Why is the race called the 'Ocean of Fire'?"

Jude blinked at her for a moment, eyes darting back and forth between the road and his daughter. "You know," he mused, smiling brightly at the two of us, "I don't really know!"

I barked out a laugh. This man had been racing for the past twenty years and yet he had no idea _why_ the race was called what it was? Lucy shot me a sour look and elbowed me in the ribs, making me whine at the slight pain it caused me. "What do you mean you don't know?" Lucy hissed at the thirty eight year old man.

Jude laughed at her and I shrugged my arm around the fuming girl, pulling her closer against my side. "Yeah, Jude," I chuckled at the older man. "Why do they call it the 'Ocean of Fire'?" I had always been curious about the races; I wanted to learn everything about them. In less than two years, when I was eighteen, I would be allowed to race as well and, I glanced at the girl pressed up against me, I would probably have a partner.

Jude sighed and spared the two of us a glance, sobering immediately. "It's…" he fumbled for something to say, "Hard to explain." Lucy and I stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate. "When you're out there, it's like you're running through fire," he had a longing look in his eyes and I could tell he couldn't wait for the racing to actually begin. "All it is is sand, and the heat, and you, and the beast." He looked over at Lucy and me, a large smile spreading over his face. "The sand gets so hot sometimes that it bursts into flames," he whispered, smile still in place. "It's an ocean of sand and you're running through fire. It's amazing." He sent the two of us cheeky grins, taking one hand off the wheel; he threw his arm around Lucy and me, giving us a squeeze. "You two will just have to see it for yourselves when you race."

Lucy's expression darkened and she turned her eyes away from her father, avoiding his gaze as well as mine. "You mean when Natsu races," she corrected.

I winced. It was frowned upon, but not against the rules, for a woman to race; the last one to try had backed out of the race at the last minute in tears after the men had harassed her for over a week without relenting. They had even threatened her several times. It was cruel, what they had done. I didn't see any problem with letting girls race, they had just as much right as the guys did, and Lucy was by far one of the best people when it came to interacting with the Cait Sith, they didn't claw at her as much as they did everyone else. Maybe that was due to the fact that she was less threatening looking and less violent than most men.

None of that mattered though. I would never race without her. _Never_. She meant the world to me, and racing without her beside me seemed like a pointless thing. It wouldn't _feel_ right.

I held Lucy closer to me, giving her body a gently squeeze. "We, Lucy," I spoke boldly and she glanced up at me. "I will never, _ever_, race without you," I told her, meaning it with all my heart. Her gaze softened and I could see the corner of her lips twitch up into a smile, I smiled brightly and gave her a silly look. "Besides, anyone who has a problem with you racing will have to deal with me!" She giggled.

"That a boy, Natsu!" Jude slapped me on the back as best as he could, grinning at me. "Show those punks who's boss!" Sometimes I had trouble figuring out which of the Heartfilias was the adult.

"Thanks, Natsu," Lucy whispered, bumping her head against the side of my jaw lightly in an affectionate way.

"Welcome, Luce," I whispered back, leaning my head down to rest on top on hers, feeling slightly sick. The last motion sickness pill I had taken was probably starting to wear off. Lucy seemed to realize that fact.

"You feeling sick again?" She asked. I nodded and she adjusted her head in an attempt to make it a more comfortable position.

Jude cackled at me. "Damn Natsu, how do you expect to win in the races if you can't hold your stomach?"

I glared at him. "I don't have any issues with the demons." That was true. I never had motion sickness on the big cats. "The Cait Sith run a lot smoother than you drive," I hissed. I wasn't actually mad, but Jude loved to tease me about my weak stomach when it came to transportation, he knew I was perfectly fine with the beasts.

Jude grinned at me. "That's what I like about you, Natsu. You know how to insult people." I honestly had no clue if that was actually a compliment or not.

"Of course," Lucy murmured, her head resting comfortably on my shoulder. "It can't be his charm and good looks. God, no, it has to be the violence." I'm almost positive that I was never supposed to hear that. I flushed at what she said. She thought I was attractive? Well that fed my ego nicely.

"What was that, Lucy?" Jude smirked at her.

"Nothing, Dad," she said, brushing off his question. "So what weapon are you going to use during the race?" That was another thing about the races; you were allowed one weapon, of your choice, to use to defend yourself or, depending on your morals, kill your opponent. That was one thing I didn't agree with. It disgusted me that some people would stoop so low as to murder a person just to win a race.

"I'm thinking about using Is Breá."

"Ooh, the spear," I sent him an approving look. Is Breá was a retractable spear that was able to extend and retract at the users command. The name of the spear could be loosely translated to mean 'love', a name that fit the spear's appearance.

The shaft of the spear was made of pure silver and was wrapped in a black, leather grip. The tip was… beautiful in a way. It was an upside down heart, the bottom of the heart making the deadly point of the spear; the heart's edges were extremely sharp to the touch. About six inches below the heart was a crescent moon making a wide "U" just under the heart, the two curves going up at different angles than those of the hearts so that if you were to hold the spear parallel to the ground and were able to see the heart the moon would be hidden from sight, turning into a sliver against the shaft. The crescent moon's tips only reached to the end of the shaft.

"Is breá is good," Lucy mumbled, tucking her face closer to my neck. "He was Mom's, right?" Jude nodded solemnly and I had to fight to keep my emotions in check. Layla Heartfilia had passed away around the same time as my father; actually it was about a six months after the race. Layla had gone out to feed the Cait Sith that Jude had caught and trained, a normally docile Cheetah named Isa, for some reason the big cat had gone berserk, ripping the woman's throat out.

Jude had been against killing the big cat, because they could never truly be tame and being attacked by one was a risk that people took. Isa had been released back into the wild after that, and Jude had been sad to see the big cat leave. He had won the races three times in a row with Isa, but he couldn't bear to look at the cat without being reminded of Layla's death and once the cats got a taste of human flesh they wouldn't hesitate to taste it again.

Is breá had been the spear Layla usually used when being near the Cait Sith. She had left it behind the one time that the cat had been lusting for blood.

"Hey, Jude?"

The man looked over at me. "Yes Natsu?"

I sighed through my nose and rested my cheek against the top of Lucy's head. "How many races have you won now?"

The older man hummed for a moment, thinking over my question. "Six times," he finally answered. "Once with Java, three times with Isa, and so far twice with Bás," he explained. To win the races once in a lifetime was impressive. To win six different times was unheard of. Jude practically had a target painted on his back at this point and I could only pray that nothing bad would happen to him. If he were to get hurt it would _kill_ Lucy.

Lucy made a sound akin to a scoff. "Nobody likes Bás," she grumbled darkly. I made what I thought was a sound of agreement. The big cat had no issue with biting the hand that feeds him. Several weeks before we had started our trip to Desierto the Cait Sith had taken a bite out of Lucy's side while she was feeding him. Jude had been in town getting supplies for the race and I had been the only one home. I had taken off running to the barn that Jude had built to house the big cats when I heard Lucy screaming.

I cringed slightly. Although there was a large metal pole in the center of the open space, the cats were chained to the pole to keep them from lunging at the people near them; somehow Bás had caught Lucy and drug her towards him. By the time I got there Lucy had already managed to drag her body out of his range, there was blood everywhere, and I was so afraid that she was going to die.

After I had stopped the bleeding, Lucy's side from her ribs down to her hip had been a mess; the two of us had agreed not to say anything about the incident to Jude. If the man were to find out the cat had attacked his daughter he would never have anything to do with the Cait Sith again and that wouldn't have been a problem if the race hadn't been happening in the next few weeks.

Jude sent the two of us a confused look that only I could see because Lucy still had her face pressed against my shoulder. "Did something happen with him?" He asked the two of us.

I froze. This was bad. This was really bad! I was an awful liar! How was I supposed to say that nothing happened without him realizing that something _did_ happen?

Lucy's calm voice broke through my chaotic thoughts. "No dad, nothing happened," she shifted her head on my shoulder so that she could look at the other male. "But you know how he is. We just don't want anything to happen to you." To be fair that was, sort of, the truth.

Jude smiled at us. "Nothing bad is going to happen to me! Besides, it's too late to turn back now, we're here."

"Here" wasn't really anywhere at all. "Here" was a bunch of sand, a large booth to pick up your racing colors, a small pond for water, and a lot of trucks and trailers that had brought the Cait Sith and their riders here.

Lucy and I wouldn't actually be watching the start of the race. It was only the twenty second of July and the two of us only had until July twenty third, the next day, to start our drive to the coast, where we would stay with a man named Gildarts until late August to watch the end of the race and see who would win.

I was a shame that we couldn't watch the start of the race, but the ending was always more fun, and someone had to be at the end to pick up Jude and the Cait Sith. For the past five years we would do the same thing. Drop off Jude, stay until the twenty third, drive the four thousand miles to the coast within nine days which wasn't actually that hard, stay with Gildarts and his daughter Cana, participate in the Cait Sith Festival on the beaches, and watch the race. As repetitive as that sounded, I wouldn't change it for the world. Well, unless _I_ was the one racing then I wouldn't change it.

This year Lucy and I would be making the drive to the coast alone though. Normally Gildarts would catch a ride to Joya with someone he knew that was racing, but this year he didn't have too, Lucy and I were finally old enough to make the drive alone. But we would still be staying with Gildarts for the twenty some days the race would take.

The best part was that we wouldn't have to hover near the finish line. We could watch nearly the entire race using Lacrima-vision, meaning we were able to keep tabs on the riders. Normally the only things the lacrima would show were fights and it would focus on the racers in the lead. It would also follow previous winners.

In the next minute the truck rolled to a stop and the three of us piled out. It was nice not to have someone pressed right up against you after several days. Not that I didn't like it when Lucy was pressed up against me and… yeah.

"Lucy." Said girl and I both turn to look at her father. "Go get my colors, will you?" Lucy nodded and tossed me a smile as she walked past me, heading to the booth. "Natsu," I looked back at the man. "Come help me with Bás."

"Sure thing," I tossed another look at Lucy's retreating form before heading over to the blond man. "What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"Just get everything out of the back," he jabbed his finger over his shoulder in the direction of the truck. "Leave the big cat to me."

Oh okay. All I had to do was take the saddle, tent, and everything else out of the truck and he would take the giant, _man-eating lion_. Makes sense…

I did what was asked of me though. I set out the saddle; well it was more of a series of straps that would tie down the large cloth that would be in a specific color. Your color. There were two thick straps that would wrap around the cat's stomach, the first just behind the Cait Sith's front legs and the second in front of the back legs and around the belly of the cat, holding down the cloth as well as allowing people to attach any baggage to the creature. Another strap wrapped around the neck, two long strips running along the sides of the cat, connecting the neck piece to both of the ones around the cat's torso.

On the cats head was what looked like a modern bridle for a horse, only it was modified to fit the shape of the Cait Sith's head. There was no bit.

The leather straps were embedded with small silver pieces. The silver was due to the fact that it seemed to soothe. In small quantities it would keep them calm. That was why the weapons the riders carried were made of silver, like Is Breá. If it failed to keep the cats away you would still be able to defend yourself.

The tent was used for obvious reasons. You couldn't ride a Cait Sith for twenty two days without stopping. You would be dead. The cat would be dead. Neither of those options are particularly pleasant. Either you would be dead or lost in the middle of the desert with only a limited supply of water, meaning it would only be a matter of time before the heat and lack of water or a rogue Cait Sith killed you.

Riders were allowed to take as much water as they could carry with them for the race, those that were lucky would be able to find some source or water _during_ the race. It was a long shot, but both the beasts and their riders needed the water to live.

The next thing I pulled out of the back of the truck was Is Breá. I held the spear in my hands for a moment, just staring at him. Currently the spear was no more than a foot long, the blades looking overly large on the small shaft. "Mór," I mumbled. Is Breá reacted almost immediately, becoming a wicked, five foot long spear.

Is Breá was made in Enca, and he was a magical spear. Well, as magical as anything could get. The people of Enca had found a way to enchant the weapons they made, making them grow or shrink by using code words. I didn't know that much about the process of making a magical weapon nor did I understand how all of it worked. Lucy knew more about it than I did.

I did know how to work the spear though. Mór was the Enca word for large, it would make the spear grow in length. To make the spear revert to its smaller size you only needed to say "beag", the word for small.

"Beag," I whispered, letting the spear shrink down again before I walked over to Jude. The older man was nearly done by the time I made my way over to him. He already had Bás tethered to one of the thick, silver poles that had been placed into the ground several years earlier for the riders to tie up their Cait Sith until the races began. He smiled as he caught sight of me and I handed him Is Breá. "If there anything else you want me to do?"

He smirked and I could tell that I wasn't going to like what he said. "Why don't you go find Lucy? She seems to be taking quite a long time," he teased. I had the sneaking suspicion that he knew that I liked his daughter. I wasn't dead yet though so he must not have been _too_ apposed to the idea. His face suddenly became serious and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Some of the guys might be giving her a hard time… _again_."

I nodded in agreement. It was bad enough that the girls who tried to race were harassed, but Lucy had always been given a ton of bullshit for even trying to get her father's colors. Not her own colors, her father's. Normally it was a whole lot of verbal abuse, but last year I had gone looking for her after she had been missing for nearly a half hour. I found her just as the male she was arguing with struck her across the face. It had taken Lucy, Jude, and Gildarts to pull me off of him.

"I'll go find her." I didn't bother to wait for Jude's response; I had already spun around and started to stalk over to the color booth, weaving my way between Cait Sith and men. I found Lucy talking to the man handing out the colorful cloths.

"Why don't you take your 'custom' and shove it up your ass!" Okay, so maybe they were arguing, but at least she wasn't hurt.

"Lucy!" I called out to her. She whipped around, clearly in no mood to deal with anymore bull shit, but her look softened when she realized it was only me. Her entire body relaxed and a smile spread across her face. I stopped walking once I was right next to her and tossed a dark look the man on the other side of the booth. "Is there a problem here?"

The man smiled at me brightly. "No. There's no problem here." He shot a glare at Lucy and it took everything I had not to snap at him right there. "The bitch is just trying to take some colors."

A low growl rumbled out of my chest when he called her a bitch and every word he said after that was more timid than the one before. "If you ever call her that again," I took a threatening step forward, but Lucy threw her arms around me, restraining me.

"Natsu, don't," she whispered the words against my back and I could just barely feel her lips moving against my spine through my shirt. "He isn't worth it."

After several deep breaths and Lucy whispering soothing things in my ear, I finally managed to calm down. "I'm okay now, Lucy," I murmured gently. She released me a moment later and I, sort of, wished she hadn't. I sent her a soft look before glaring harshly at the nervous man behind the booth. "Give her Jude's colors."

Every race winner had a specific color to use and they were assigned that color based on what it was when they won their first race; they would keep that same color for the rest of the races they entered. There were about three hundred racers, but with all of the different colors out there it wasn't a problem, plus some people used patters instead of a single color. It also helped that racers had to register by April first of the year they were racing, giving the racing officials a headcount.

The man shook his head in a frantic way. "No!" Now he was just being stubborn.

I sighed, trying to keep my anger in check. "Then give _me_ his colors." The man complied quickly, handing me the royal purple fabric with a huge smile on his face. I looked him right in the eyes as I gave the fabric to Lucy. "Thank you," I ground out between clenched teeth. "We'll be going now." I took Lucy's hand in my own and led her away from the booth.

Once we were a safe distance away from the booth I stopped walking and turned to her. "What was all that about?" I kept my hand linked with hers.

Lucy grimaced. "How much did you hear?" She asked.

I grinned down at her. "Something about 'shoving his custom up his ass'." I tried really hard not to laugh at that. Lucy hardly looked threatening. She was only about five foot four and I was nearly six feet tall and, well… she was Lucy. I knew that she could be a real demon when she wanted to be, I knew that she had a temper, and I knew just how hard she could hit; but other people didn't. That's why they thought it was okay to fuck with her and push her around. My grin melted away and I stepped closer to her, wrapping an arm around her back. "What did he say to you, Lucy?"

She shook her head and I could see the sad look it her eyes. "Just the usual." Oh, well, that cleared everything up. I sent her a look and she elaborated. "You know, 'girls shouldn't interfere in a man's sport' and 'if I give you this cloth it will send him bad luck'." Most of the men who were involved with the races were incredibly superstitious. They thought that if a woman were to touch a man's colors it would give him bad luck, making him either lose the race or his life. I didn't believe a word of it. Did she?

I decided to voice my question. "You don't believe that, do you?" I hoped she didn't. She had always come in contact with the colorful cloths. Always. And, sure, sometimes Jude lost, but he had also won several times. Lucy touching the cloth had nothing to do with it. Depending on the circumstances _anyone_ could win. Besides, Jude only ever did the races for fun.

Lucy shook her head and let her arms curl around my torso, dropping my hand as she did so. "Of course not," she whispered against my chest. "I'm just sick of the way men treat women during the races. It's like we're either inferior or the devil or both."

I let my other arm wrap around her and drug her as close to my body as possible. "You aren't inferior to me Lucy," I nuzzled my face against her neck.

"I know," she whispered back to me. I was happy that she knew she was my equal, it would sort of suck if she thought that I saw her as someone lower than me, which she wasn't. I smiled.

"Sure you can be a bit of a devil sometimes, but-." She giggled against my chest and I laughed as well. "That's what I like about you," I finished softly.

"Thanks, Natsu," she gave me a tight squeeze and released me. When she met my eyes again I could see the smile in them.

I grinned at her, taking her small hand in my own. "Let's get back to your dad. You know how impatient he is." She laughed lightly, but nodded. The two of us made our way back to where Jude was, and I found him right where I left him.

Lucy tossed him the dark purple cloth and he smiled at us. "Did anyone give you any trouble?" He asked. Lucy and I shared a look and then shook our heads. It would probably be better if he didn't know. Jude hummed softly before stepping closer to us. "I supposed it's time for you two to get going, huh?" He was right, of course. We did need to leave soon, if we were anymore than an hour late Gildarts would have a panic attack. And, as funny as that would be, it would probably end with me being harassed by the other man.

Lucy stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "May luck be with you," she whispered to him, releasing him after a brief moment.

Jude smiled and cupped her face in his hands. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead gently. "And you as well."

They pulled away from each other after a moment and Jude walked over to me as Lucy moved to get into the truck. I turned my attention onto Jude as he placed his hands on my shoulders. I smiled at him. "May luck be with you," I said.

He smiled back at me. He glanced at Lucy and sent me a suggestive grin. "And you as well," he teased. Well if that didn't prove that he knew I liked Lucy I don't know what would.

…

"I still don't see why we have to go to a stupid dance," I grumbled to Gildarts, who was fixing his tie. I knew what he was going to say. It's a tradition to go to the dance on July thirty-first through August first, I'm not really sure why. Actually I did know why. It's because the races would start at midnight. The dance would start around eleven and last all night long. I just wanted to sleep… Lucy and I had gotten to the Clives' house that morning after an awful week of driving.

Gildarts sighed. "It's a tradition, Natsu." Bingo.

I snorted at the older man, glaring at the deep red tie I was fiddling with in my hands. How the hell do you tie these? I could have just asked Gildarts, but he would probably strangle me with it. "Doesn't mean I have to like it," I grumbled.

He chuckled. "You'll be singing a different tune once you've got Lucy pressed up against you during the dance." Did everyone know that I liked her? I decided to play dumb, I was normally pretty convincing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I shot back at Gildarts.

Gildarts looked like he was ready to kill me. He took a step towards me and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me roughly. "You know exactly what I'm talking about!" He hissed. Oh God, I was going to die!

"What are you two talking about?" Gildarts and I both froze at the feminine voice that sounded from the stairs. Both of us turned to look at the person slowly.

It was Lucy.

I felt my jaw drop as I took in her appearance. Her hair was hanging down loose, probably because if she put her hair up it would be down before the end of the night anyway. I let my eyes trail down her body, letting my gaze rest on her dress. No, it wasn't a dress… it was a strange shirt and skirt ensemble. It was a deep shade of red, the same color as my tie actually. As she got closer to me I couldn't help but let my eyes roam over the skin that wasn't hidden under her clothing. Her shirt was longer on the right side, curving up a bit and showing a pale sliver of skin on the left side. She was wearing a frilly skirt that only reached the middle of her right thigh, cutting diagonally down to the left, only reaching her knee at its lowest point.

I probably would have just stared at her stupidly if Gildarts hadn't nudged me. "You look beautiful, Lucy," he dug his elbow hard into my ribs. "Doesn't she look nice, Natsu?" I nodded dumbly for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah!" I tried to keep myself from sounding like a fool. "You look great, Lucy," I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. She smiled at me and I had to fight back a blush.

Lucy giggled. "You don't look too bad yourself, Natsu." I glanced down at what I was wearing. Plain black slacks and a black button up shirt… oh, and the god damn tie that I didn't know how to put on! I twisted the dark red tie in my hands for a moment and she followed the movement. She laughed lightly and she tugged the fabric out of my hands, wrapping it around my neck. She looked up at me as her deft fingers tied the tie with ease. I couldn't breathe, but it wasn't because of the tie. "You're hopeless," she whispered, giving the tie a sharp tug, making my face drop closer to hers.

I moved closer to her, placing my right hand on her left hip, tracing the sliver of skin that wasn't covered by her shirt. I didn't know what I was trying to do. Kiss here maybe? I was just about to lean down closer to her when Gildarts cleared his throat. Oops… I sort of forgot he was there.

"So…" Gildarts started awkwardly. "Where's Cana?" That question was obviously directed at Lucy. I had been with Gildarts ever since Cana kidnapped Lucy and drug her into her room. How the hell would I know where she went after that?

I glanced at Lucy and noticed, with a bit of satisfaction, that she was trying, and failing, to fight back a blush. "Cana left already," Lucy tried to hide her smile. "She said something about getting lost in the crowd before you could find her." It took everything I had in me not to laugh at Gildarts' offended expression.

"She left without me?!" He shouted in panic, practically lunging for the door. "Don't worry Cana!" He screamed. "Daddy is coming!" And then he was gone. I would never be able to understand Gildarts. He was normally a laidback, easygoing person, but whenever Cana was involved he turned into a possessive maniac.

Lucy and I shared a confused look, Gildarts was so… odd.

Shaking the thoughts of the man aside, I caught Lucy's hand in my own and started to lead her to the front door. "Pretty dress," I murmured, raking my eyes up her body as discreetly as I could. "It suits you." She looked sinfully good in the color red and I was enjoying that fact way _too_ much.

"Thanks," she giggled lightly, "Cana practically forced me to put it on." I could definitely see that happening. Cana was normally a relatively happy drunk, but if you didn't do what she wanted you to do things could get ugly.

We stepped out of the house and it took me a moment to realize that neither of us were wearing shoes. Luckily there were no such things as roads in Desierto. Just sand everywhere, making it easy to walk around without anything covering your feet. There were no rocks that you had to worry about stepping on.

"Hey, Natsu," Lucy whispered softly. I looked over at her, my hand still locked with hers. "Five hundred jewels says I get to the party before you!" Wait what? I didn't have time to react before she released my hand and took off across the sand.

…

The races had been grueling. Well, from what I could tell. Every since the races had started on the first we- Gildarts, Cana, Lucy, and I- had been sitting in Gildarts' home watching the lacrima-vision. Within the first two days nearly twenty people had been killed, ripped apart messily by Cait Sith and riders alike. There had always been casualties during the races, but never like this.

From what the four of us could tell, there was a group of five people racing, allies of sorts. They would target a single person at a time, surround them, and attack them, either killing them themselves or knocking them down and leaving them to the mercy of the Cait Sith.

It was horrible. There had been so much blood everywhere. Blood and what had been a human being at some point in time.

There were two different sides to the races. On one hand it was an exhilarating thing that tested skill as well as the bravery of the people of Earthland. As Jude had told us it was amazing, a beautiful thing between humans and the Cait Sith as they worked together.

On the other… it was a bloodbath. Plain and simple. It was a risky thing; you couldn't tame a Cait Sith. It wouldn't be so bad if the racers weren't allowed to kill each other.

Every time a rider would fall to the ground, injured or having simply taken a tumble, Lucy would turn and tuck her face into my chest, not wanting to see the big cats turn on their riders. I would hold onto her, wrap her up in my arms, but I wouldn't- couldn't- turn away.

It was like watching a train wreck. You knew what was going to happen, but you weren't able to tear your eyes off of it. The lacrima caught everything. Right down to the moment when the Cait Sith would rip out the screaming man's throat, or split open his chest with its claws, or tear off one of his limbs.

After the screen turned onto something different, possibly focusing on a previous winner of the race, I would press my face against Lucy's hair, reminding myself that it wasn't _Jude_ and it wouldn't be _me_ or _Lucy_. Not ever.

That's how the first twenty one days went. Now it was the last day of the race. It was the last day and everyone was gathered near the finish line, sitting in their cars or standing several hundred feet away from where the cats would run by.

Lucy and I were sitting on the hood of the truck, glancing between the giant lacrima screen floating in the air and the desert, hoping to catch sight of some racers in the distance.

"What's taking them so long?" I grumbled crossly. Seriously? Where was everyone? Normally the first riders would be showing up by August twentieth. And yet her Lucy and I were, waiting for people for two extra days.

"Geez, Natsu, don't be so impatient. Lucy laughed and shoved me lightly, but because I was unprepared for the attack I fell off of the truck and landed in my own pile of limbs and dust. Oops. I'm so graceful.

"Lucy," I whined from my place on the ground. "Why are you so mean to me?" I propped myself up onto my elbows, glaring at my female companion, who was currently laughing to hard to apologize to me. She tried to say something once, but as soon as she tried to look me in the eyes she broke out into a new round of laughter, clutching her sides in pain with tears running down her face. "Lucy!" I called out a complaint as she finally calmed down.

"I'm sorry," she managed to get the words out between small giggles. "Here," she leaned over the edge of the truck, holding out a hand for me to take. "I'll help you up."

I wrapped my larger hand around her small one, but I had no intention of letting her help me back up.

Lucy squeaked as I gave her arm a sharp tug, making her tumble off of the truck in a similar fashion as me. She didn't land in the dirt though. Lucy made a quick turn in midair; she then proceeded to land on top of me, her head slamming painfully against mine. I could never win with this girl.

Lucy groaned as she sat up, cradling her head in her hands. "Sorry, Natsu," she hissed through her teeth. I winced as I propped myself up on my elbows for a second time.

"It's okay," I murmured. "It was my fault, not yours." It took me a moment to realize that she was straddling my hips, it didn't look like she had any problem with this though and every other male who knew me certainly knew that I didn't.

"Oi! Natsu! Lucy!" A voice called from above us. Lucy and I shared a confused look before glancing up. Oh, it was only Gildarts. The older male was giving us a half-amused half-puzzled look. "What are you two doing on the ground?" He asked us.

That wasn't something I wanted to answer. If I answered the question he would laugh. And if he laughed at me I would be forced to defend myself using violence. And then he would beat me up, him beating me up right in front of the girl I like would fatally damage my ego, and I couldn't let that happen.

Lucy seemed to share my sentiments, or maybe she just didn't want to have to explain to Gildarts why she was currently sitting on top of me, making no move to get back up. "Where's Cana, Gildarts?" I tried to fight back a smirk at the tactic she was using. "Something might happen to her if you aren't there!"

Gildarts' eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. The man slid off of the truck and took of running, mumbling something that sounded like "Daddy's coming!" as he ran away. Distraction complete.

Lucy got off of me and helped me to my feet, this time I didn't try and throw her on the ground. "That was mean Lucy," I chided, not really being serious. She could probably tell that I was joking by the large smile splitting my face in half. I hopped up onto the hood of the truck and stuck a hand out to help my blonde friend up. I pulled my hand back slightly as she tried to grab my hand. "You aren't going to pull me back down… are you?" I asked her.

She smiled at me and giggled. "No, I'm not."

My smile grew as I caught her hand in my own, "Good." I pulled her up against me with ease and threw my arm around her shoulder. "I'd have to kill you if you did." Lucy laughed at that and playful butted her head against mine in a strangely affectionate way.

"Sure you would," she teased. I, obviously, had been kidding. I would never hurt her, much less _kill her_. The thought of her dying didn't sit right with me, and me being the one to kill her made my gut twist in a painful way. I shook the dark thoughts to the back of my mind. It was never going to happen; I wasn't going to let anyone hurt her, ever.

I was about to say something back to her when some people started shouting. It was hard to hear exactly what they were screaming about when nearly one hundred people were trying, and failing, to speak at the same time.

Lucy caught my wrist in her hand and lurched to her feet, pulling me up with her. "Natsu," I looked over at her and noticed she was staring at something in the distance. I followed her gaze and realized what she was going to say just as she said it. "The racers are coming."

I couldn't tell who the seven racers were from the distance we were at so I looked up at the lacrima. A huge smile spread over my face. "Looks like this is going to be number seven for your dad," I commented.

Lucy looked at the floating lacrima and smiled as she saw her father in first place. "Don't get cocky, Natsu," she scolded me. "A lot can happen in the last leg of the race. You know that."

I rolled my eyes at the blonde. "Have a little faith, Lucy," I threw my left arm around her again and tugged her into my side. She shot me a dirty look, but slipped her right arm around my back, one hand clenching my shirt near my right hip.

"I do have faith in him," Lucy whispered, so quietly I could barely hear her. "But one of us needs to be the practical one."

I pulled her closer and chuckled.

Neither of us could tear our eyes away from the lacrima as the image expanded, showing more of the surrounding area, letting everyone see who the other six people besides Jude were. My breath caught in my throat and I heard Lucy inhale sharply.

One of the other six people was a tall man built like a brick wall riding a tiger. He was nearly one hundred yards behind the others though, so he wasn't that much of a threat.

The other five were the men who had been targeting the other riders… And they were surrounding Jude on three sides. There was one man behind him, with two others flanking him on either side.

This was bad.

This was really bad.

One of the men on Jude's right had a strange club type object raised in the air, and he was swinging at Jude every few seconds. "What is that thing?" I asked out loud.

"A morning star," Lucy hissed, her grip around me tightening slightly.

Then several things happened at once.

The man with the morning star swung at Jude, who ducked. Jude had reached for Is Breá and enlarged the spear at the same time, trying to bat away the swinging morning star. When Jude had ducked the morning star smashed into Is Breá, knocking the silver spear away from him and to the ground.

Now Jude had no weapon, and the man with the morning star was still swinging.

"Dad," Lucy breathed out, scared. I was scared too. Being surrounded by people who wouldn't hesitate to kill you with nothing to protect yourself was a recipe for disaster. Jude was going to get hurt. There was no "if" or "might". He wasn't going to finish the race without being bruised of cut up in some way or another.

The man with the morning star swung again and this time he made contact with Jude's body. The spikes of the morning star dug into the flesh of his side and when the morning star was pulled back I could see blood heavily staining gray shirt. He was bleeding badly; if he didn't get to a doctor quickly the loss of blood would kill him.

That wasn't even the worst part.

The blow knocked Jude off balance and he tumbled off of Bás, hitting the ground with what looked like a painful smack.

Bás seemed to realize his rider was missing, because of the lack of weight on his back, so he stopped running.

I felt Lucy tense up next to me, holding her breath. I did the same.

The giant lion turned around so the he was facing Jude, regarding him coldly. Neither he nor Jude moved for what seemed like forever and the lacrima was solely focused on them, not bothering to watch the other riders who had moved ahead, getting closer to the finish line. Jude started to slowly reach for Is Breá, but the spear was too far away and if he got up to grab it Bás would lunge.

Jude took one final change and pushed himself to his feet, ready to make a dive for the spear not five feet away from him.

He was too late though.

Bás sprang at him and I barely managed to spin Lucy around and press her front against my chest as the cat bit down on Jude's neck.

I pressed one of my hands against the back of Lucy's head, holding her against me so she didn't see what happened.

I would never be able to forget the blood curtailing scream that tore itself out of Jude's mouth as the cat ripped his throat out.

…

**Here's my new story guys! I hope you all like it. Do me a favor and tell me what you think, I can't improve the story unless you guys tell me what's wrong.**

**If you are confused by the geography Google "Earthland map" or "Fiore map" it will help.**

**Loose translations:**

**Bás- Irish for death**

**Is Breá- Irish for Love**

**Beag- Irish for small**

**Mór- Irish for large or big**

**Love and Always,**

**-Riven**


	2. Don't Let Go

**Summary: We call them Cait Sith, after the old Enca myth, a black cat that stole the souls of the dead. What we have is much worse… demon cats taller than men, vicious predators that rip humans to pieces. We race them every August, under the protection of the sign of Leo, across the desert, alone or in teams of two, battling sand storms, dehydration, and our own opponents who want nothing more than to kill us. This year, Natsu and I will race. And we will win.**

**AN: This will be in both Lucy and Natsu's POVs. The idea for this came from a combination of reading **_**The Scorpio Races**_** by Maggie Stiefvater, looking up NaLu pictures on Tumbler, and watching **_**Hidalgo**_**. The picture that caught my attention was one of Natsu and Lucy riding a lion, yes a lion, I can't remember if this was actually something Hiro drew or if it's fan art.**

**Ocean of Fire**

**Chapter One: Don't Let Go**

I flopped over onto my bed, lying on my back and trying not to crush Happy, my exceed friend, underneath me. After a moment I threw my right arm over my eyes, trying to block out the sunlight that seemed determined to disrupt my chance of taking a nap. Not that I should really be trying to take a nap at six in the afternoon. It would probably be better to just wait for nightfall to hit, that way I could actually sleep without being blinded by the sun.

I just lied there for several minutes, not doing anything. Maybe if I did absolutely nothing I would be able to, finally, fall asleep. I had just started to doze off when the clouds outside shifted position and I was blasted in the face with a beam of sunlight.

For a moment I just hissed in agitation, but then I sighed heavily and drug my arm off of my face; I would just have to wait for it to be night to fall asleep. I glanced at the blue cat sleeping next to me. Why couldn't I be a cat? They don't have ridiculously hard times trying to fall asleep. They can lie down anywhere and in thirty seconds they'll be knocked out, purring to themselves for no reason whatsoever.

Dammit, now I was thinking about being a cat. I needed to find something to do. I sighed again and lightly ran my hand over Happy. His purring grew louder and he curled closer to me, tucking his face against my hand. I let a smile slip over my face and rubbed his ears, the soft rumbles from the cat traveling through my arm, tickling me slightly.

It had been just over a year since Jude's death, but I could still remember what had happened like it was only hours earlier. After Jude had been killed by Bás, the lion had taken off into the desert and I had never seen him again and I had continued to hold Lucy against me as the rest of the living riders finished the race. By the time dusk had hit some of the men were venturing out to collect the bodies that were nearby. Lucy and I had slowly made our way over to Jude's body, but I had refused to let her look at him. I didn't want the last time she saw her father to be like that. I didn't want her to close her eyes and see all of the blood and gore that was once one of the people she cared about most.

Together we had skirted around his body and, with a shaky breath, Lucy had stooped down to pick up the silver spear that was resting near him. She had hesitated for a moment, but wrapped her fingers around it as I dropped down into the sand next to her.

She was shaking so badly at that moment that it traveled through me when I curled around her, letting her sob into my chest as the two of us rocked back and forth for hours. At some point two men had walked over to us, one of them had murmured an apology and his condolences that fell upon def ears, before the two of them picked up Jude's body and took it away.

The ride home was no better; in fact it made Jude's death even more painfully obvious. Lucy and I had spent the long drive in silence, Lucy refusing to talk and me not knowing what to say to her. That had been the start of the brief, awkward conversations between us where we spoke less in a month than week did in a day before Jude had died.

I could still remember what she had said to me on our ride home. It had been _the only_ _thing_ she said to me on our ride home.

_The silence that filled the air between Lucy and me was the loudest thing I had ever heard before in my life. It was louder than thunder, more terrifying than the roar of an angry Cait Sith, and more piercing than a shriek. It was deafening, so loud that it made my ears ring painfully._

_I hated it._

_ I hated it so god damn much it made me want to scream loudly and hit something as hard as I possibly could._

_I hated the fact that Jude was dead, _he was dead_, and I couldn't save him. I hated the fact that Lucy was hurting and I couldn't do anything at all to stop it. I hated the fucking silence and I hated the fact that I had no idea what to fucking do!_

_ I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, having to snap them back open a moment later when I remembered that I was the one driving and shutting my eyes could end badly for both Lucy and me. For a moment I just stared straight ahead, watching the truck kick up dirt and sand, the dunes stretching on for hundreds and thousands of miles until they were all that you could see._

_ In Desierto you could drive for miles and miles and never get anywhere. The scenery would never change and all you would see was sand and all you would feel was the searing heat beating down on you for hours and hours. _

_It was enough to drive anyone insane; stories had always been tossed around about people trying to walk through the desert, only to never come back out. The two theories were that the fool who tried would either die from the heat and lack of water, losing their mind in the process, or that the desert would swallow them whole._

_I shook the thought away and glanced at the blonde next to me. She was doing the exact same thing as I had been doing a moment earlier, she staring off into the sand. I could only assume that that was what she was doing anyway. She wasn't facing me and I had no way to tell if she was looking out the window, or if her eyes were even open._

_I sighed through my nose and thought about the silence again. It was strange and it made me feel itchy and it was almost awkward. It was never quiet between Lucy and me. Not ever. Not once had the two of us even been completely silent in each other's presence, we were always talking about something- anything- and the silence between us was unnerving. It proved that there _was_ something wrong. Something _had_ happened. And she _had_ been hurt. Not physically, but emotionally, and that might have been even worse to think about._

_ I could protect her from the bruises and cuts that came with a fight. I could protect her from people who wanted to hurt her. I could protect her from the demon cats that could rip her to pieces. But I couldn't protect her from her own emotions. I couldn't save her from the heartbreak that came with death…_

_ I tried to fight back a grimace. The thought of me not being able to protect her nearly made me panic. She was… precious to me… and if I ever lost her to her own emotions…I didn't even want to think about it. I didn't want to think about any of it, because that would mean I couldn't do anything to save her._

_Which was right, to an extent_, _I _couldn't_ do anything about it. Not now. She had stopped talking to me- to anyone- after what had happened in the sand, stained a scarlet color from all of the blood and death. She hadn't said a word to me and every time I tried to start a conversation she had ignored me, acting like I had never said anything to begin with. And, if it had been any other time, I probably would have been angry that she was shutting me out, but right now I was just… sad, because this was my best friend we were talking about._

_She was my best friend and she was hurting, and if she didn't want to talk about it with me then I would respect that. Everyone needed time to take things in or think about everything in their life, and sometimes they needed to do it alone._

_I fought back the urge to sigh again. What was going to happen now? It was going to be hard to explain everything to Happy when Lucy and I returned to Magnolia without Jude. I couldn't lie to him and say that Jude was staying in Desierto with Gildarts and Cana, because he would either find out on his own or I would be forced to tell him when he asked me why Lucy was so sad. Neither option sounded positive so it would be best to tell him straight up, even if it did make him sad._

_I nearly cringed at the thought. I didn't like it when Happy was sad. I sent a quick glance at the blonde sitting next to me. I didn't like it when anyone was sad, but especially not my best friends. It just didn't sit right with me, seeing the ones who were closest to me like that._

_I highly doubted that anyone would want to see the ones they loved sad. At least, I hoped no one did. My eyes narrowed at the thought. I would personally teach a lesson to anyone who wanted their friends- their family to feel sad, and I would use my fists to do it. I would not tolerate anyone doing something to make their friends sad; I absolutely would not tolerate it._

_My fists clenched tightly around the steering wheel and I had to take several long, deep breaths to calm myself down again. I knew very well that I was extremely protective of the people I cared for and the though of someone _not_ wanting to protect the people they cared about made me want to snarl in rage. It didn't make sense to me, someone not wanting to protect those closest to them. I just couldn't seem to wrap my head around it. Why _wouldn't_ you want to?_

_I sighed and shook my head. I didn't need to get all riled up over something that had nothing to do with me. All I needed to do was protect the people closest to me and make them smile. As long as they were happy I could be too. That was all that really mattered to me. Making others happy and being happy myself._

_I glanced at Lucy out of the corner of my eye. No matter what happened next, no matter how much she tried to push me away, no matter how long she stayed silent, no matter how long it took me, I _would_ make her smile again._

_I would make her smile again, that was the one promise I would make to myself and her. It was the only thing I would ever swear on my life. I would make her smile if it was the _last thing I would ever do_._

_The thought of her smiling again brought a smile of my own onto my face. It was hard not to smile when I thought about her, but that was cheesy and I would firmly deny it if anyone ever asked me about it._

_God forbid that Gray, Gajeel, and Jellal found out about the somewhat sappy thoughts in my head, I would never hear the end of it. They all just assumed that I was as dense as a rock when it came to women and "liking" someone, and I wouldn't mind keeping it that way. _

_I shook my head quickly, silently cursing myself for thinking about being teased by three of my friends while my best friend was sitting next to me, so far gone in her sadness that she didn't even realize that I was there._

_ I snuck another glance at the blonde and sighed when I noticed that she hadn't moved at all from the last time I had looked. I would have thought she was dead if it wasn't for the steady rise and fall of her chest, proving that she was in fact breathing._

_I kept shooting looks between Lucy and the desert in front of me. Well I was watching the road more than I was watching Lucy, but after about a minute of staring straight ahead I would shoot a quick look to my right, making sure she was okay. I kept up the same action for several minutes, just to reassure myself that she was still there and she was okay, or as "okay" as someone could be after what had happened recently._

_"Hey Natsu?" Lucy's quiet voice broke through the heavy silence that had fallen between us and I nearly slammed my foot against the brake pedal when it reached me, that's how surprised I was that she had spoken up. I was expecting her to stay silent for the entire ride back to Magnolia. Not that I wanted her to be, but I wouldn't push her to talk to me if she didn't want to._

_ I swallowed the lump that had somehow found its way into my throat and glanced at her, holding her gaze with mind for several seconds. "Yeah Lucy?" I whispered back to her just as softly, only breaking our eye contact to look ahead._

_ She didn't say anything again for several minutes and she refused to meet my gaze again, instead she was staring down at her lap. I was just about to ask her what was wrong when she spoke up again._

_ "I think I know why they call it the 'Ocean of Fire' now," she said, still not looking at me._

_My mind whizzed back to the conversation we had been having just before we had arrived at the racing sight. _"Why is the race called the 'Ocean of Fire'?"_ That's what she had asked Jude._

_I swallowed thickly; I didn't want to know where this was going. I could hear the sadness and pain in her voice and I could tell it was taking everything she had in her not to start sobbing uncontrollably right then and there. "It's like-," I sucked in a shallow breath before saying his name, "It's like what Jude said," I paused for a moment, trying to keep my voice from cracking. "It's like you're running through fire," I quoted. "It's an ocean of sand and you're running through fire," I whispered. _

_I looked at her again and she shook her head before meeting my gaze. I almost cringed at the look in her eyes. They were so lifeless, _so dead_, that it hurt. She blinked slowly and took a deep breath, shaking her head once again. "No, that's not it," she told me. _

_In my life I had never been more confused than I was right then, not even once. I swallowed again and tightened my grip on the steering wheel, instead choosing to look ahead again. I couldn't meet her eyes right then. Not while they looked so lost and hurt and… empty. "Then what is it, Lucy?" I whispered, caught somewhere between happy that she was talking again and nervous about what she was going to say next._

"_Because…" she said softly. _

_When she didn't finish her thought I finally turned back to her, about to ask if that was her answer, I froze as soon as I did though. There was a small, sad smile on her face and her lower lip was trembling. I was too shocked to do anything but look at her until a single tear managed to squeeze past her eyelids and trickle down her face._

_Without really thinking about it I reached over to her with one hand. I turned back to the road as I wiped the salty liquid from her face, gently caressing her jaw line as I did so. "Because what, Lucy?" I asked her softly, dropping my hand down and away from her face. It took me several seconds to find her hand, but when I did I didn't waste any time in wrapping my larger palm around hers, intertwining our fingers._

"_Because," she whispered again, squeezing my hand tightly. "Because when someone enters the races…" Her voice was thick with tears and I could practically smell the salt. I tightened my grip on her hand in what I thought was a comforting way. It seemed to work because she continued, her voice sounding stronger than before. "When someone enters the race everyone around them gets burned."_

I pushed the memory of that day to the back of my mind, instead choosing to think about the present.

Lucy and I hadn't gone to watch the races this year. The wound Jude's death left was still too fresh and when I had asked Lucy if she wanted to watch the end of race she had glared and stalked away, not speaking to me for nearly a week. I could tell that she was hurting, that fact was plainly obvious, but it killed me to know that I couldn't do a damn thing to help her because she wouldn't let me.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly. It hurt. It really hurt to know that my best friend was pushing me away, keeping me at arms length. Normally we were each others' right hand, but now it was like she didn't want anything to do with me. I wasn't sure quite why she was doing it, maybe she was afraid to get closer to me than she already was. And I could understand that. When my father had died I was too young for it to constantly weigh over me. It had been the same with Lucy's mother. But with Jude we had both been older. We could both fully understand the concept of death and loss and for Lucy to lose the person that had always been there, for her to lose her role model and the person that meant nearly everything to her, the way she had, was awful.

I didn't want to lose her too though. I didn't want her to stretch our relationship- _our friendship_- so thin that it broke with one loud _snap_. I couldn't lose her, not like that, not ever. If I woke up one morning and she was just gone, it would kill me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, absentmindedly stroking the blue exceed that was sleeping next to me. I sighed and look over at the catlike creature. When I had first found the exceed, Happy, nearly seven years earlier he had still been an egg. At first I had thought he was a dragon. Imagine my surprise when the egg hatched and a fluffy, bright blue kitten with a white belly popped out. I was even more surprised when the kitten started talking and I learned that he could spout wings and fly.

I let out a small smile as Happy stretched and moved closer to my hand, purring loudly. Besides Lucy, Happy was my best friend. I had met both of them around the same time. The Heartfilias had taken me in about three months before I found Happy and Lucy and Happy got along with each other rather well, their relationship being both overly teasing and incredibly affectionate.

I sighed deeply and slipped an arm under Happy, pulling him close to my chest. I could tell that Happy was taking Lucy's distance just as hard as I was. Happy had been less… happy since the blonde had started pulling away from everyone. The little cat had fallen asleep crying on more than one occasion after the girl had denied him affection or when both of us could tell she was purposely trying to stay away from us.

I had no idea what was worse. The fact that she was beginning to slip through my fingers… or that I was letting her.

By the time that I realized she was starting to distance herself from me it had been too late, and I didn't know how to fix it. After that I just didn't know what to do. Was I supposed to corner her somewhere and force her to talk to me? No. That would make her angry and she would feel intimidated. Was I supposed to bring it up at some random time? In the end I decided to wait for her, but she never came to me.

But I would still wait. I would wait forever if it meant fixing things between us. I let a smile cross over my face. I would never give up on her, not even if it killed me.

I was so focused on my thoughts that I didn't notice Happy wake up and stretch until his furry tail flicked over my nose, tickling me.

"Happy," I chuckled. "Quit it!" I sent a mock glare at the cat and he grinned back, but I could tell that it wasn't as bright as it had been before what happened last year.

He did it again and this time I swatted at him. Before my hand could make contact his wings appeared and he flew away from me, laughing the whole time. I sighed and dropped my arm over my eyes. After a few seconds I felt Happy flop down on top of my head. "Hey Natsu?" He whispered. I hummed in response, not really paying attention to the cat, but I did slide my arm off of my face to peer at him. "When is Lucy going to be okay again?" He asked me quietly, face sad.

I sighed again and patted him on the head. "I don't know buddy. I don't know." The blue cat nodded sadly and hopped onto my chest, nestling against my shirt and falling asleep again.

After a moment I squeezed my eyes shut and rolled over onto my stomach, carefully moving the sleeping exceed onto the pillow by my head so I didn't accidently crush him in my sleep. That would be bad.

What I said to Happy was the truth. I didn't know when or if she was going to be "okay" again, but I would stay by her side until she was, because she would do the same thing for me.

A small smile slipped over my face as I thought about my blonde best friend. It didn't matter what road blocks came between us, because, in the end, we would always be able to get around them as long as we were together.

…

I trudged through the streets of Magnolia, wincing at the harsh sunlight that was trying to blind me. Lucy, Jude, and I- now just Lucy and I, well, Happy too, but he's a cat- lived on the very edge of the town, giving us enough space to keep a Cait Sith around, well… it use to. Now it just gave the two of us more room than we needed.

The house itself wasn't really anything special. There were two floors, two bedrooms and a bathroom on each level. There was a kitchen and, I suppose, what someone would call a living room on the main floor. Enough room for guests, not that any ever came over.

The barn behind it that Jude had "built" was actually just an old tavern with a windmill on the top. The bar inside had been ripped out, but the stairway leading up to the second floor of the old tavern was still in place. The upper level was where we would store everything else for the Cait Sith. Food, riding gear, bathing material… you name it, mostly food though. On another note, don't ever try to give a Cait Sith a bath by yourself. You will die.

I winced at the thought. People already know that cats don't really like baths, but when the cat is six feet tall and just shy of four thousand pounds bath time became a deadly thing. Most of the time it took several people just to keep the cat _still _so that another two or three people could clean them, there was no way a single person could do it and walk out with all of their limbs still attached.

I hissed briefly as the sunlight hit me in the eyes again. Why the hell was I even awake so early? I grumbled to myself for a moment and ran a hand over my face. That's right; I was supposed to meet Gildarts in town. He had called me nearly a week ago, asking me to meet him at the Fairy Tail bar in town. Apparently he had some sort of business with the bar owner, Makarov, and decided to catch up with me when he was done.

Actually he had wanted to meet up with both me _and_ Lucy, but when I had told her about it she had shrugged and walked away from me, so I let it go. If she didn't want to talk to Gildarts I wouldn't make her, plus now would be my chance to ask him what to do. He was older than me and therefore knew more about women than I did.

I sighed through my nose and pushed open the doors to the bar in front of me, immediately being assaulted by the loud noises that came with the rowdy bar. I tossed a glance around the packed area, trying to find my friend. Where the hell was Gildarts?

"Natsu!" Found him. I turned to the right and had to suppress a laugh when I saw Gildarts. He was half leaning, half standing on the table in front of him, both arms waving around in the air, a beer mug sitting in front of him. I started walking over to him and burst into laughter as the chair he was on slipped out from underneath him and he fell to the floor.

I shook my head and crouched down to help him up. "What are you doing on the floor, old man?" I teased him, trying to hold back the laughter that still wanted to spill over.

Gildarts shot me a dirty look. "Can it, brat," he hissed. I rolled my eyes and caught his hand in my own, pulling him up with me. He sent me a nod of appreciation and the two of us took a seat. Neither of us said anything as he waved over a waitress, a girl named Kinana, and she refilled his mug of beer, which had been spilt when he hit the ground.

After he thanked Kinana he turned and smiled at me. "So, how are you doing, Natsu?" Now how should I answer that? 'I'm great, Gildarts! My father figure is dead, my best friend and potential love interest won't talk to me, and I need your help.' Yeah, great way to start a conversation…

I decided that it would be easier to pretend everything was okay, so I just shrugged. "I'm doing okay," I mumbled, "okay" was a safe word right? He wasn't going to start asking questions about it, was he? I didn't want to give him the chance to question my answer, so I asked him one of my own. "So where's Cana?" I blurted out, noticing the absence of the, normally drunk, brunette.

The other man made a disgusted face. "She said she was going to stay at home and try to find a boyfriend while I was away," he snorted and then growled like some sort of animal. "If that's true someone is getting their ass kicked when I get home," he snarled. Thus why I'm not dating Cana, her father was a crazy old man. Well, there was also the fact that I just never thought of her in a romantic way, or really _any_ way, and I had… something… going on with Lucy. I think.

I shook the confusing thoughts from my head and nodded at what Gildarts was saying. "How have you been, Gildarts?" I asked. "I haven't seen you in over a year."

"I've been good," he said, moving his beer mug in a circular motion, sloshing around the liquid inside. "Last month was quiet without you and Lucy around," he whispered. I hummed in agreement, but didn't say anything. Gildarts glanced at me briefly before turning back to staring at the table. "Do you plan on racing next year?" He asked.

I sighed heavily and looked at the table, drawing random shapes on the wood with my index finger. "I don't know," I finally told him. "I mean…" I trailed off a bit, searching for the right thing to say. "I want to, but… not without Lucy…" I admitted softly.

"I see," he whispered, turning to look at me. I met his gaze and noticed the heavy layer of sadness in them. "How is she by the way?"

I swallowed thickly. "Not good," I ran my tongue over my teeth. "She's not doing good…" I darted my gaze away from his. "She's barely spoken since… what happened," I didn't think it would be so hard to tell someone else about what had been happening since Jude's death, but it was. I squeezed my eyes shut and dropped my head into my hands with a shaky breath. "I don't want to lose her," I whispered softly. It was so soft that I didn't even know if Gildarts had heard the last part.

Apparently he did hear me, because he clapped a hand onto my shoulder and squeezed gently. "Have you told her that?" He asked softly. I dropped my hands and sent him a confused look, silently asking him what he was talking about. He sighed, but then smiled. "Lucy," he started. "Is the type of person who takes her pain as well as everyone else's," Gildarts explained to me. "She takes all of it in, she bottles it, and she doesn't share it with anyone else." He leaned in closer to me. "And do you know why she does that?"

It stung to hear that. Not because I didn't already know it, but because it was true. Lucy didn't like to share her pain with anyone else. I thought about Gildarts' question and a small smile slipped over my face. "Because nothing else matters to her as long as everyone else is smiling." I looked at him and he nodded at me in approval.

"You might just understand women yet," he joked. I shot him a dark look, but couldn't suppress the smile on my face, it slipped off a moment later. "And thus is life."

"Saol," I murmured the Enca word for life under my breath and turned back to Gildarts. "That doesn't help me though," I shook my head. "She still won't talk to me."

"Than talk _to her_." My head snapped around so that I could look at him. He ran a hand through his chestnut hair and gave me an expectant look. "She'll listen," he promised. I saw him swallow briefly and then he continued. "It doesn't matter if she won't talk to you, because you can still talk to her," he told me. "And she'll listen."

I wanted to believe that what he was saying was true. I wanted to think that she would listen to me, but… "How can you be sure?" I asked him. How could he just _know_ that she would hear me out?

He sighed heavily and then looked at me in exasperation. "Because you're the only one she _will_ listen to," he hissed, hand tightening drastically around his beer mug. "She's your best friend and you're hers," he said, voice softening slightly. "And if she doesn't listen to you than she won't listen to anyone," he finished.

"And what if she doesn't?" I asked. "Listen to me, I mean." I almost didn't want an answer from him. Almost. What if she didn't listen to me? Would that mean I would lose my best friend? I didn't want that. You could do whatever you wanted to me, you could rip my heart out, as long as I didn't lose her.

He caught my shoulder and gave it another squeeze and I looked up at him. His expression was sad, but I could see the hope lying just under the surface of his eyes. "Then at least you can say you tried, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah," I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I can." I met his eyes and smiled. "Thanks Gildarts."

He waved me off quickly. "Don't thank me for telling you what you already knew," he reprimanded me. With a jolt I realized that I did know everything he had told me, I just needed someone to reassure me.

I decided it was time for us to start a new topic, so I searched my mind for something to talk about. "What did you need to see Makarov about?" I asked quickly, curious as to why he would need to come all the way to Fiore to talk to him. It had to have been something important.

He sent me a cheeky grin. "Makarov wanted to talk to me in person about how many people would be able to stay in my house, as well as how we would get said people to my house," he said.

Okay, what was that supposed to mean? "What do you mean? Why are so many people going to be staying at your place?" Did I have every right to be confused? I would like to think that the answer was "yes". I was definitely confused.

He leaned in closer to me. "Everyone wants to be there when you and Lucy win the next race." I think my heart stopped beating in my chest. Did everyone really have that much confidence in Lucy and me that we would win the race our first year? Never mind that, they believed that she would agree to race with me in the first place?

I stared at him for a moment and he nodded at my silent questions and I could feel the rush of excitement and affection that flooded through me. Trust the members of Fairy Tail to never give up on you, even when all odds were going against you.

"How many?" I asked; voice barely above a whisper.

"Nineteen," he stated proudly. "Twenty two if we include the exceeds."

I laughed slightly. "That many?" Nineteen people… That was… That was amazing. That was _more_ than amazing.

"There would be more," he said quickly. "But Makarov requested that a few people stay back to watch the bar." I nodded in understanding. Fairy Tail was a popular place; it couldn't just be shut down for a month during the race.

Pride swelled in my chest. If my friends believed that I could convince Lucy to listen to me, if they believed that we could win the races; then I would. If they believed in me, I could do anything.

Gildarts' voice broke my train of thought. "I need to leave now," his lips twitched up into a large grin. "Actually I should have left five minutes ago." I laughed lightly at his comment and he reached out, clapping a hand onto my shoulder. His face had become completely serious. "Talk to her," he ordered me.

I nodded quickly. "I will," I promised. "And I won't stop until she listens."

The corner of his lips pulled up into a small smile and he sent me a brief nod, standing up from the table we had been sitting at. "Beannacht," he whispered softly.

I nodded at the Enca farewell and said one of my own. "Slán Leat," I murmured back, just as quietly.

Gildarts waved as he walked away, but he didn't turn around again. His back disappeared from view a moment later, swallowed up by the sea of people crowding the bar.

I turned away from all of the other people, instead staring at the, now empty, beer mug that Gildarts had left behind. I sighed through my nose and thought about what Gildarts had said, beannacht…

"Good luck and goodbye, huh?" I whispered to myself, smiling widely. "I'm going to need it."

…

"You're going to be eighteen soon." My head snapped up and I whipped around in the direction Lucy's voice came from.

I couldn't believe it. This was the first time she had initiated a conversation with me- with anyone- since Jude had died just over a year ago. I winced at her statement though. I knew what she was going to say. She was going to ask me if I was planning on racing this year. And what could I say? Yes?

She didn't want anything to do with the Cait Sith anymore, and that would include me if I were to race one. She would probably throw me out of the house too; she wouldn't allow me to bring one of the cats here.

I kept my eyes trained on her figure, letting myself drink her in. It had been so long since I had gotten to just _look_ at her. Our conversations had become clipped and almost unfriendly. We hadn't joked around with each other for months and I… I don't want to lose my best friend.

I nodded once; unable to say anything to the one person I wanted to talk to more than anyone else in the word. It was almost funny. She had been shying away from me for so long that now and, when she wanted to converse with me, I had no idea what to say. The irony of it was bitter and it cut me deep, almost like a knife.

And maybe I should have been angry that she had been ignoring me, practically trying to force me out of her life, but I wasn't. If she wanted me out of her life I would respect that. It would kill me inside, but I would respect it.

The two of us were quiet for a long moment, Happy glancing between us nervously. This was, metaphorically, the moment of truth. Right now we would either fix the tension between us or it would eat us alive. If things went in the wrong direction we could lose what we had forever, and I didn't want that. I didn't want to lose her. Not like this. Not ever.

I thought about what Gildarts had told me earlier today. Just talk to her and she'll listen… it looked like I would be getting my chance to talk to her sooner than I thought I would, but first I would hear her out. Partly because I wanted to know what she would say to me and partly because I just wanted to hear her voice.

She tensed for a moment, not daring to turn and look at me. From where I was sitting I could easily see every muscle in her back go rigid. I was hyperaware of everything about her, so it was easy to hear the strain in her voice when she spoke. "If you plan on racing you'll want to find a Cait Sith soon." I winced at the sharp edge to what she said.

I opened my mouth to say something- _anything_-, but… all that I managed to say was an almost broken version of her name. "Lucy…" Her name came out strangled and I didn't like it. It was weak and almost pitiful and not how her name should sound in any way.

I went to speak for a second time, but whatever it was I was going to say was lodged in my throat. I had never been good with words, ever. When I had a problem I usually dealt with it by using my fists, but I couldn't do that now. No, right now I just wanted to reach out to her, wrap her up in my arms and never let her go.

Lucy sighed softly and slowly turned around to face me, leaning back against the counter behind her. Neither of us moved for several minutes, both of us just watching the other person, trying to find something and gouging the other's reaction.

She sighed again and looked away from me, and I immediately missed looking into her eyes. She ran a hand across the side of her face, murmured something under her breath that I couldn't catch, and then looked up at me again, her eyes cold. "Do you plan on racing or not?" She asked me softly, avoiding my eyes.

I winced at the chilly look she was giving me. This was not the conversation I wanted to be having. I didn't want to do this, any of it. I didn't want to fight with her anymore, if we were even having a fight in the first place. I didn't want her to be mad at me and… I didn't want her to let go of me completely.

I stood up slowly and took a step closer to her, reaching out to her with one hand. "Lucy," I let her name slip from my lips, my fingertips just brushing the side of her face.

She flinched away from my hand just as quickly as it had touched her and I pulled back immediately, dropping my hand back down to my side. That stung, watching her pull back away from my touch the way she did. I would prefer it if she had just slapped me instead, it probably would have hurt less.

Lucy clenched her fists and I could see that she was shaking slightly. "Do you plan on racing or not?" She spat out at me. She took a step back and glared at me harshly, obviously not happy about having to ask the same question a second time.

"No," I whispered softly, stepping closer to her. She relaxed slightly and I reached up to cup her face. I didn't move for a minute, instead I watched her for a reaction. She slowly relaxed against me, but didn't do anything else.

I swallowed and decided to continue with what I was saying. I decided to take Gildarts' advice and just tell her what I needed to tell her and I prayed that he was right and she would listen to me, because I was the only one she _would_ listen to. And he was right. Even if Lucy didn't hear me out, even if she pushed me away from her, at least I could say that I tried.

I took a deep breath and continued. "Not without you." She scoffed and ripped her face away from my hands, her hand shooting out and slamming against my chest to push me away. She stalked past me, moving to leave the room. My gut twisted as she moved to leave and I couldn't stop myself from calling out after her. "I meant what I said, Lucy!" I shouted at her back. "I won't race, not without you!"

She rounded on me in an instant and I flinched back when I saw the tears in her brown eyes that were threatening to spill over. I didn't want her to cry. I didn't want her to cry because of _me_. I wanted to reach out and pull her close to me, tell her not to cry, but I could tell that it might just make things worse.

A tear trickled down the side of her face and she bared her teeth at me in a sneer. "Why?" She snarled. "So I can kill you too?" She sobbed once and I reeled back in shock.

"Lucy…" I choked out. So that's what this was about. That's what all of it had been about. She had never been mad at me. She had been mad at herself. It had been over a year, but whatever that man at the booth had said to her that day had stuck with her. He had warned her about touching Jude's cloth, and she had ignored it. That wasn't why he was dead though. _She hadn't killed him._

I winced and took a step towards her. She had been blaming herself for his death this _entire time_ and I didn't even know it.

She shook her head wildly, tears still falling down her face. "I don't want to lose you," she whispered hysterically through her tears. I didn't know what to do, I had never been good with tears, I didn't know how to handle them.

My eyes widened and I lunged closer to her as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and her small frame started to shake badly. "I don't want you to die," she sobbed.

I caught her right hand in my left and jerked her closer to me, wrapping my right arm tightly around her back and pressing her against me. I held her smaller, quivering frame tightly and kissed her temple before I dropped my head down to rest my cheek against the top of her head. I tightened my grip on her hand and swallowed thickly. "I won't die on you, Lucy," I murmured into her hair. "I promise."

She shook her head once again and pushed away from me, forcing me to release my grip around her. She glared at me harshly. She had stopped crying, but I could still see the tracks the salty liquid had left on her skin. She winced and the anger in her face fell away, leaving behind a sad and worn out expression that I didn't like.

She sighed and shook her head again, sadly this time. "Don't…" She trailed off, sucking in a shaky breath. "Don't make a promise that you can't keep, Natsu."

She turned around and started to pull her hand away from mine and _I panicked_. I squeezed her hand tightly and jerked her around forcefully. I almost felt bad about being rougher with her. _Almost._ I was so god damn afraid that she was going to leave and I would never see her again. "Don't go," I whispered, staring intensely at the ground. I sucked in a shaky breath between clenched teeth. "Don't pull away from me," I tightened my grip on her hand and prayed that she knew what I meant. I wasn't just talking about her hand leaving mine. "Don't let go," I pleaded with her, finally looking up at her. I could feel tears pricking at the back of my eyes and it was a challenge not to let them fall over. The only thing me crying would do was make her feel guilty, and I was positive that she had had enough of that for the past year to last a lifetime. I met her eyes slowly and tried to blink away the salty liquid in my eyes. "Don't disappear on me. Not now,"

Neither of us moved for awhile, we just continued to stare at one another. She had gone rigid after I had finished talking and after a moment I dropped my gaze down to the floor. I was so damn scared that she was going to pull away from me, even after what I had told her. It wouldn't really surprise me if I had said something wrong. It wouldn't surprise me at all. I heard her take in a shallow breath, her hand slackening in mine, but I didn't dare look up.

"Natsu," she whispered my name softly, _sadly_. It surprised me when I felt her hand cup the right side of my jaw. She gently, oh so gently, tilted my head, forcing me to look at her.

I breathed in and turned into her hand, pressing myself harder against her soft skin and shifting so that I could place a light kiss on her palm. I met her eyes and could see the guilt and sadness floating through them; I didn't want her to be sad.

She shook her head slightly, her eyes not leaving mine. "I'm not going anywhere," she promised.

A sound that was half way between a sob and a laugh rumbled out of my chest, and I snaked the arm that wasn't attached to her hand around her back, pulling her flush against me. It felt so good to hold her again and I wanted to prolong the contact for as long as possible.

"Thank you." I wanted to bury my face against her neck, but instead chose to lean my forehead against her own, letting her hand continue to rest against the side of my face, cradling my jaw. I swallowed thickly. "Thank you," I whispered again.

Her grip on my hand tightened. "I'm sorry," she whispered. I could feel every shaky breath she took against my face, but I didn't dare open my eyes. The hand pressed against my jaw started to tremble slightly and I pressed closer to her. "I'm so sorry," she murmured again, her nose accidently bumping against my own. I knew that she wasn't talking about the unintentional collision though. She took in another deep, shaky breath. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay," I murmured softly, cutting her off and pulling her even closer to me. I was happy now that everything was back to normal, well, everything seemed to be back to normal. I was positive that she wouldn't be pulling away from me anymore. She wasn't going anywhere; she wasn't going to leave me.

There was still something that I needed to do though. I steeled my nerves and asked her the question that could very well get me killed if it was too soon to ask. "Will you race with me?" I asked. She stiffened and I pulled away from her slightly, looking into her eyes, not being able to read her expression at all. "Lucy, will you race with me?"

She dropped my hand and my heart sunk with it. I was a complete idiot and I had asked her too soon. We had only just managed to reconnect after over a year of dancing around the other and now I had brought us back to square one. Why the hell did I think it was a good idea to ask her to race with me?

I was so invested in my thoughts that I didn't notice the small smile that pulled up at the corner of her lips.

The panic I was feeling disappeared as her fingers wrapped around my wrist. I glanced down at the appendage and watched as she slid her hand up, trailing it over my arm and shoulder. She continued to move her hand until it was resting against the side of my face, both of her hands cupping my jaw. My eyes snapped back up to her face and her lips twitched; her smile widening. She nodded once and spoke and I wanted to throw my arms around her again.

"I will."

…

**AN: The beginning of this chapter was a pain in the ass to write. The last scene (my favorite) was the first thing I wrote. The beginning was just… ugh… I don't even know guys.**

**For the record Natsu and Lucy live at the second Fairy Tail Guild. The first guild is the bar that Natsu and Gildarts went to.**

**If you've read my other story **_**The Raven**_** you'll know that I tend to write longish ANs. I'll try to keep this one short because no one is reading it yet *cries in corner loudly*.**

**Chapter 347 guys. I love the girls. I just love them. And more anime news! Yay!**

**Loose translations:**

**Bás- Irish for Death**

**Is Breá- Irish for Love**

**Beag- Irish for Small**

**Mór- Irish for Large or Big**

**Saol- Irish for Life**

**Beannacht- Irish for Blessings/ Goodbye**

**Slán Leat - Irish for Farewell/ Goodbye**

**Next chapter- **Chapter Three: Sea Mist

**Please review guys; it would really make my day.**

**-Riven**


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